Hi guys... I have had OA for a few years now and it's just getting progressively worse. I am also very overweight which doesn't help and have been battling with my weight all my life and I'm still trying everyday!!! The pain everyday is just chronic and has really taken a toll on my mental health as I now suffer wiry depression and take antidepressants too. OK so kept going back and forth to docs re painkillers... nothing is really working so far have tried: naproxen, cocodamol, ibuprofen 400mg x2, tramadol, diclofenic patches, fenbid gel, various heat patches etc. Being in pain 24/7 and not being able to sleep is just soul destroying. I am on sleeping tabs as well now. I am on the waiting list for pain management and physio buy it's taking forever and I'm just so fed up and down everyday.
Any suggestions on further pain relief please.... just till I get into pain management clinic
Thanks in advance guys xx
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fluffy10
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Yes it is, but if you are going to use it regularly- on the well known online store beginning with A you can get a subscribe and save option. Does work out a bit cheaper - and you can cancel if you decide it’s not for you after all.
Can’t we say Amazon? I found using the knee straps and trekking sticks very helpful in dealing with my pain because Im stuck with OA and PSA double whammy of craziness!
I purchased knee braces from Amazon called (Adjustable Patella Knee Straps) these have worked well for me and I have a pair of trekking sticks from Amazon called (Vive) which allows me to go walking by reducing the pressure on my knees.
Australian Dream Cream is also very helpful but again like the Flexiseq it’s expensive…. Anything to make moving easier is worth the cost!
I take gabapentin at night, prescribed by a rheumatologist a few years ago. Dose is 300mg and it helps both with pain and sleep. It helps with the nerve pain that comes from OA. Leaves me feeling groggy in the mornings but once up and about I wake up quite quickly.
Just been prescribed codeine by another rheumatologist to use in the day if I need it but I try to manage without pills if I can. Tramadol makes me feel sick and the anti nausea pills handed out made me sleepy.
I've seen physios and had exercise sheets handed out for knees and a shoulder. Seems I have tendonitis in one shoulder, been 3 years now. Attended a local sports centre for 6 weeks, referred by a senior physio who worked there. I benefited from that and wanted to do more but it meant paying a membership fee and not being able using the NHS gym they have up there.
I attended a group pain management clinic in 2019 and found that helpful with visual aids and information about how the body and brain deal with pain. It included a relaxation session as well. Run by ex nurses. Again referred there.
Currently I'm signed up with a gym run by Nuffield Health. I go with my son by taxi. The company offers free membership for a year. About 8 of us all with OA and we do very gentle exercises. If after the free membership runs out you dont want to pay for it you can leave. I organised this one myself after seeing their ad on facebook.
I have a knee support but don't get on with it, its an elastic one and not very comfortable.
The last doctor I saw in rheumatology in october emphasised the need to keep muscles strong and thats what I try to do. Pills can't do that. Its difficult I know. I was diagnosed about 20 years ago with wide spread OA. Good luck with the pain management, hope it helps xxx
Hiya fluffy (good name) any way ,Like you I have osteoarthritis I too was diagnosed at 37 and I am now 68 also have in. knees, hands, wrists, neck,and I have been waiting for a operation on my back as 2 of my vertebrae has collapsed and a. cushion, been waiting just over 2 year s. And yes it’s hard going. Oh if you just could get some sleep, I always think that you can manage some pain. I m on some good pain killers only to name a few=lm on pre-gambling. 3 a day,and I find am trimming ampitriptlne 3 at night, and if you just stick with them as they take some getting used too I don’t know weather this is any good for you .But I wish you well, and take care
Just so you know, all NSAIDS interfere with cartilage renewal and should not be used on a regular basis for osteoarthritis. This includes Voltaren, or whatever it is called in your country, I noted the word Voltaren, so assume it's the same thing. I have had great success with Flexiseq, but I have no extra weight which probably helps.
Yeah, I found out not long after my doctor told me to take coated aspirin for my new diagnosis of osteoarthritis. I thought it was to help me, as I really didn't have much pain, just some stiffness, so had been taking it for maybe a couple of months. This was 35 years ago! It was pre internet, so I must have read this in a magazine or newspaper. A few years ago I did a google search about it, and it is true. I take glucosamine sulfate, 2x1000 mg a day. And for the past year have been using Flexiseq on my knees, and doing exercises to keep muscles strong.
Hi, Good to see your reply here—I’ve lost track of you & missed hearing your input! Have you found any studies you might post or recommend showing glucosamine helps—have read a few saying no effect—and did not go further. Also on pain, a functional med doc( finally found an available one) has been suggesting LDN for sleep and pain. Ever tried? I’m hesitating tho there seems to be a lot of positive articles on this. Finally an elementary question—if you have both osteoporosis and arthritis—is that what they ( the Docs) call osteoarthritis? I have both but the RA docs tend to ignore the osteoporosis—I tried an osteoporosis doc but not a hey we’re pushing prolia and no discussion! I asked about Hormone replacement therapy/-all she said was no—I pressed—but they offer it in Europe even women in their 70’s—All she said was well we ‘re not Europe. I didn’t rally fast enough to press her on —but what’s the reason we don’t have it—? Any insight on other options like HRT? I’m just wanting to know so much more than I do!
Osteoarthritis is simply the word for the kind of arthritis which they call "wear and tear" - our joints wearing out as we age, although I think there'smore o it than that. Osteo means bone, so , no not related to osteoporosis, although we can, of course, have both conditions.
I think for a long time glucosamine was dismissed, but I have recently looked it up and there has been encouraging research.
Thanks for this update on glucosamine sulfate—-I note they document the fact that brands in the US and Canada aren’t as well regulated as in Europe—they differ by a large percentage!…do you have a tip as to how to find a good brand in the US? Or can you import from Europe? It’s good to know if you try you must stay on it at least 3 years—it’s not quick but very low on side effects.Thanks!
I've been taking glucosomine since soon after I was first diagnosed with OA, about 35 years ago! In Canada there is a number which means there is some sort of confirmation that they meet standards according to Health Canada. DIN for drugs and NPN for natural products (which includes glucosamine).
I take glucaosamine sulfate, I'm not sure there is any other variety available here. I do not use chondroitin. I seem to remember it's sourced from animal cartilage or something equally questionable in the age of mad cow disease. Just read that they also use shark cartilage - another reason not to buy it as sharks are being decimated worldwide and as apex predators are absolutely essential for healthy ecosystem. In other words, if you choose to use chondroitin make sure you know what it's made from!
I didn't really answer your question about HRT, and really I can't answer it as I don't know. Perhaps you could ask that question in a new post so it is seen by more people?
Thanks I only use HRT as an example and I’ll try to post it separately along with asking about any other safer approaches to osteoporosis. ( I recall you use weights—for walking—need to ask about those who don’t walk as well.
What helps the osteoarthritis pain for me is exercising in a warm water pool and stretching class. I stopped the physical therapy; antidepressants; narcotic pain meds, and am concentrating on shrinking my stomach to lose the weight I gained from taking steroids for 10 months. I also take Melatonin and often take prescription Ambien for sleep. Getting off the A/D’s and pain medication has made me feel better and has helped me focus on the much-needed weight loss. I hope you feel better soon, as sleep deprivation is brutal and makes pain so much harder to overcome.
Have Butec patches been prescribed ( Buprenorphine) ? I've found these very effective in taking the edge off pain and topped up with paracetamol. Worth asking your GP possibly?
Hi fluffy10.
I know this is 10 months later but hope it will be of help.
Had ligaments and muscles injured 43 years ago, worked on top of that later on with voltaren (a nsaid which ruined my gut, affected my heart), been to drs, physios, chiros, pain management and none of it helped. In recent years I've had broken bone bits from osteoarthritis and cracking neck bones.
What does help me?
Glucosamine HCL (hydrochloride which is purer, has less additives and NOT the sulfate -that doesn't work for me) and have been taking 750mg glucosamine with 250mg shark chondroiton twice daily with food.
For pain and exercise, I use the local heated swimming pool (walking doesn't do it for me) and have done for 35years. Pain (all through the body) always drives me back to the pool. Started off very gradually with a few laps + walking in the water and slowly progressed from there to swimming kms.
The water reduces swelling/pain so I can swim. Which, in turn, strengthens muscles and stops muscle atrophy, subsequent weakness and associated problems.
But you don't need to do laps. Just standing immersed up to your neck in the water for 30minutes is enough to reduce pain, if you don't have the energy, or strength, to do anything else.
The water therapy/less pain also helps with depression -anti-depressants make me more depressed, and Mirtazapine (used for pain & depression) worked for me, but the side-effect of uncontrollable eating/fractured concentration, didn't.
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